Story Time with Dr. Sergio Nozawa

May we introduce

Sergio Nozawa, PhD, PhD

Kilobaser customer in Brazil

After years of research at various universities, where he completed a PhD in molecular and cellular biology and in chemistry, he is now responsible for research & development and government relations executive for biotechnology products in his own company, Evolutta Agro Biotech.

With more than 20 years of experience in genome research in multinational companies such as Dow AgroSciences (Corteva) and Allelyx (Monsanto), at universities in Brazil, in the United States and in collaboration with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, he could be called an old hand in science.

Sergio participated in the Genome Project and the development of RNAi technology in Brazil and the United States, to mention just a few of his notable research works.

We asked Sergio what obstacles he had to face in his research routine.

“*As you know I live in Brasil, we have to do a lot of documentation before the import of a lot of things – molecules, reagents etc. When we try to import oligos or something [similar], the first problem is the price. Because our currency has a [huge] difference when compared to dollar or euro. So, we pay a lot of money for small molecules, and we have to [order] from companies in USA or Europe.*

Another point is the time* it takes till *[we can do] an experiment – we have a lot of turmoil at the border of Brazil, when all the reagents arrive at the airport. You need flight documentation, you need an inspection by the minister of health, or minister of environment, or agriculture. It’s a crazy process, involves a lot of paper work to do that –  just for oligos.

Now in our company we work with dsRNA, all the molecules involved in our process are confidential – it’s*** not the problem of trust, but**** we need a strong contract [obligation of confidentiality] with a company, in the USA for example, to synthesize our molecules. *
Kilobaser is very helpful to us, because you pay just the 75 € for a cartridge, without [having] the process of importation, [at least] *we don’t spend a lot of time to do that. *[Also] *we don’t spend a lot of time on the authorization from the minister of agriculture, health or environment. And of course, myself building all the molecules here in Brasil – [there is] no need for a contract or confidentiality. These are the main points that we put on the table to discussed with the other directors and in the end of the day – choose to buy a Kilobaser. *[..] For us the Kilobaser is doing very well – [sometimes] *I need to adjust the concentration of the primers, but this is easy to do. Everything is doing very well. *[…] It is the first Kilobaser in Brazil!”

Sergio told us he faced minor issues with the gas supply in the beginning, but after adjusting and increasing the pressure he is “very very satisfied with Kilobaser”.

We say THANK YOU for this great and honest report and for your time, Sergio. We wish you continuing success in your work and research!

If you too would like to tell us your story, please feel free to send us an email to [email protected]